Star Wars Episode VIII The Next Steps
by beckylynn311
Summary: After the events of The Force Awakens, Rey must learn to use the force, discover who she is, and help her new friends take down The First Order.


To say the Falcon needed work was one of the biggest understatements Rey had ever heard. The only thing that could come close was to say "The weather on Jakku was a bit hostile". Almost every inch of the ship needed work, a deep clean, and lots of patience; which Rey had… sometimes. She was standing on the top of a ladder trying to fix something she _thought_ was simple. Turns out that bad buzzing sound was caused by a domino effect of tricky problems, but she didn't mind since it was something to do that kept her mind off of… everything else. She leaned forward, trying to reach wires just inches short of her reach, and knocked a wrench off the top of the ladder. Rey sighed after she heard the metal thunk against the hanger floor, but looked to her left when she recognized a familiar sounding droid. BB-8 stopped by the ladder which meant Poe couldn't be far behind.

"Do the thing!" Finn requested. He was walking carefully, like each step had the potential to be a terrible idea.

Poe shook his head, "She's like doing it." he said with obvious disappointment. While Finn was getting better Poe and Rey had spent a lot of time together - and not just because General Organa requested him to keep an eye on her. They were becoming good friends almost as fast as she and Finn had.

"Come on. I took a lightsaber in the back for you." Finn knew she had done it with the lightsaber in the Star Destroyer, but he missed it! His friend was a Jedi and damn it he was going to get to see her do cool stuff.

"Can you stop using that as weight for every argument?" Rey turned on the ladder so she was facing them. Her plea only lead to Finn's eyes silently pleading for her to do it, "I don't know if I can do it…"

"You should try." Poe looked a bit sheepish since he wanted to see it too. "You'll need to practice eventually. What's the worst thing that'll happen?"

Rey couldn't think of anything off the top of her head, so she conceded and held her hand out for the wrench. With great concentration she got it to wiggle, then all at once the wrench shot up to the ceiling. The three of them (four including bb-8) watched as the wrench finally landed against something glass that shattered into a million pieces. She shrank down trying to hide behind the ladder and in a small voice said "Oops."

"You can use some work." General Organa walked up behind them, and Rey wanted to get in the plane and fly back to Jakku and bury herself in the sand out of embarrassment.

"General." Finn and Poe said together.

"Sorry.." Rey stepped down off the ladder, "I didn't mean-"

"We convinced her." Finn took the blame.

"She's not in trouble." Leia looked from Rey to the two boys standing by them, "Would you mind giving us a minute?"

"No of course not." Poe pulled Finn away who looked a bit diaspointed to miss whatever conversation was going to happen. "But-" Finn protested. Poe slapped his shoulder and whispered, "She'll tell us later."

Rey watched them walk away then looked down at bb-8 who was being nosy, "Go." she pointed towards Poe. BB-8 beeped back, sounding disgruntled. "Oh hush."

Leia laughed and took Rey's arms, "Droids.." They started to take a turn around the outside of the Falcon, "How's the ship doing?" She couldn't hide the sadness that came with being around Han's true love. If anyone should have it, it would be Rey.

"It needs a lot of work, but.. she's amazing. I remember looking at it in the junkyard in Jakku and… well... " Rey laughed, "It means more to me now."

"She grows on you." Leia smiled and looked at Rey, "Is she ready to make the trip to go find Luke?"

Rey looked at the ship, "She is.."

"Are you?" Leia faced her.

She looked off in the direction Finn and Poe went off to. "I wanted to wait to make sure Finn was alright before going, but I guess I can't use that excuse now can I?"

Leia smiled, "It's alright to be afraid to go, but he'll be able to answer the questions you need answers to."

"It seems too good to be true, me finally getting answers to something." She looked at Leia. "When would you like us to leave?"

"Whenever you and your friends are ready." She said with a smirk and walked away to C3-PO who seemed to be lecturing R2-D2 about something, "I'm sure they'd be more than willing to go along."

Rey looked from the General to Finn and Poe by Poe's X-wing, "I never even thought about that…" she trailed off. Before she knew it she was alone with the weight of this new decision on her shoulders. She walked over to her friends and sighed, "How about some food?"

Poe laughed, "Always." They walked together, BB-8 rolling in front and behind them too excited to stay still. To Poe the Resistance Base food was average, but to Finn and Rey it was nothing short of spectacular. Today it was some kind of strange fruit and meat but Rey stopped asking questions about _why_ foods were the way they were. Right now all she cared about was the taste and the activity of eating. They sat at the table and Poe didn't waste time getting into what the two of them were interested in, "So what did the General talk to you about? Can you tell us?"

Finn looked up from his plate, his mouth already full. The habits from the New Order were hard to break. Stormtroopers only got a few minutes to eat, whatever they didn't finish was thrown away. A fact that made Rey furious. Poe had managed to get Finn to eat slower and actually enjoy the food since it was flavorful and eating too much too fast would just hurt his stomach, and the way he ate was a reminder of the terrible life his friend left behind. Rey pushed the food on her plate around a bit before answering, "Well… we were talking about going to find Luke. I didn't go right away because of everything that happened, and I needed to work on the Falcon and-"

"You were making excuses." Poe finished for her.

"Yeah I was. And now that you're better-" She looked at Finn, "There's no reason to stay, but I'm afraid to be alone again, or if something happens while I'm gone.. I should be here."

Poe's eyebrows furrowed together, "But you getting the training you need will be beneficial. You need to learn before something bad happens." He had no quandaries about eating and talking at the same time.

"I will go… I'll probably leave in the morning." Rey said quietly. Leaving was never anything she'd been good out. Her whole life set her up for waiting, this was new territory.

"We just need to pack." Finn nodded taking methodically slow bites.

Poe looked over with the same hesitance that Rey did, "We aren't force sensitive, we can't train."

"But we can protect her." Finn insisted, "If something happens the Falcon is going to need more than two people to fly and shoot."

Rey hated that he had a point, "I can't ask you two to go on some hunt for Luke Skywalker, we don't even know if he's there."

"Hasn't our whole friendship been trying to find Luke Skywalker?" Finn argued politely.

"I still can't ask this of you." Rey shook her head, "I'd like nothing more than for you two to join me, but there's so much at stake here."

Poe looked over his shoulder to see who was around her, "I've been ordered to go with you." he looked sheepish, "I wasn't supposed to tell you."

"Then why would she want me to-" It dawned on her, "So I don't feel like I'm being babysat." she shook her head, "I want you two to come with me. I really do."

Finn grinned, "You're not gonna be able to shake us when you want us gone."

Rey shook her head, "I'm not sure that will ever be an issue Finn."

* * *

Rey was always used to sleeping alone. She didn't mind sleeping in the AT-AT walker, it was just so quiet. Which made sleeping on the base almost impossible with roommates. She tried it once with the roommates. The Resistance Base was cramped and she didn't think it was right to take up a room up by herself. It only took 3 days of not being able to sleep before she escaped into Poe and Finn's room. Finn slept on the bottom bunk and Poe slept on the top, leaving a second bunk bed free that Rey moved into.

Finn filled up a dufflebag then climbed up into his bed, resting his head on his hands, "You know when I was a young recruit I dreamed of the day I'd get a Co-ed roommate."

Rey walked in, just wearing the undershirt of her usual attire and some Rebellion grade recreation pants. "What does that even mean?"

Finn looked up from the bottom bunk, also intrigued about what Poe was getting at.

"Like… Men and Women sharing the same room." He shrugged.

"Come on Poe!" Rey scolded, "You're the oldest here, shouldn't you be more mature than the rest of us?"

"Nah, a lifetime of serving in the military doesn't really create the most… appropriate environment."

Rey rolled her eyes and climbed up into the top bunk. It seemed more fun on the second level, not that it really made any difference but it was the thought that counted. "Thank you for coming with me. I don't deserve such great friends, especially for my first friends."

Finn looked up, "Same. We're going to go find Luke and you're going to be a Jedi…" He yawned, "It'll be great."

"I'm glad you're so excited." Rey didn't mean to sound so melancholy about it, "Good night." The other two replied with their goodnights, even BB-8 got a word in.

The moment Rey was asleep the dream started. She didn't even know if she could still call them dreams... premonitions, visions… She stood in front of the AT-AT walker back on Jakku. The structure was much bigger than the last time she was there, like it was when she was a child. The broken machine seemed like an impressive home for an eight year old- the age she was when she was allowed to live on her own. She was happy to leave the Junk Yard trading post but knew that eventually she would have to go back, at least for work. Someone walked behind her making her turn, leaving the landscape of Jakku to a dark forest. It seemed like the Star Destroyer, but she couldn't be sure. Kylo Ren walking up to her, pointing his saber before speaking, "This is useless... You know it is I have no other choice," she was herself for a moment and then she stepped back from herself in the dream. Where she should have seen herself standing and talking to Kylo Ren, she saw a figure in brown robes whose face was hidden. "She'll find out eventually." Kylo Ren said again before the edges of the dream seemed to fracture.

"Rey!" Poe shook her shoulder, "They're about to serve breakfast."

She woke up without mention of her dream. It was just that anyway, a dream.

* * *

The Planet the map lead them do was unlike anything she'd ever seen with her own eyes, but the whole place looked familiar. The islands in the water seemed like they were from dreams, but she had to set that aside for now. Finn looked over her shoulder at the world, "That's… a lot of water." Being a Stormtrooper didn't lend itself to seeing the most diverse landscapes. Sure, he went places training and you'd go and fight places, but war isn't the best instigator of sightseeing.

Rey nodded, speechless out of awe and nerves. They landed on the Island with a flat enough surface to do so- after looking around for a while, she lowered the door and walked out. "You all stay here, alright?"

Finn wanted to protest, but Poe agreed, "Don't scare him off."

She chuckled a bit and looked up the long path of stairs. Stairs beyond stairs, and when you couldn't see anymore stairs because of a cliffside, you could be sure there was more behind that. The staff helped her climb, but it was no worse than climbing sand dunes in Jakku or anything else she's had to do in the last week. If it's a battle between the stairs or fighting Kylo Ren, she'll gladly take the stairs. The feeling as she climbed seemed to get lighter, like the force was telling her that she was on the right track. The feeling that had been with her since they set off from the Resistance Base. The curve of the mountain subsided and she had made it to the top, a small patch of green acted as a reward for her since there was nothing she loved more than lush green grass. A figure stood across from her, in brown robes facing out looking at the water. Rey could feel the force around her change as he turned to see her, it felt complete now that she was finally where she needed to be. She held out the lightsaber that called out to her with Maz. Luke looked at her with an expression that supplied her with more hope than she'd been given in her life.

"So you're ready to train?" Luke asked without walking forward. Rey nodded her head awed by the fact that it was Luke Skywalker in the flesh speaking to her. "You brought friends."

She put her arm down that was holding out the saber, "I have. They insisted… General Organa insisted."

Luke winced at mention of his sister, "She is very good at insisting." He closed the gap between them and lifted her arm with the saber in it, and tightened her fist around the weapon, as to say it was hers.

Rey looked at her hand and then up at his face, "You'll train me?"

He took a step back and walked around her to examine his possible student, "It will be hard work, the hardest work you've ever attempted. It will challenge every part of your being and I can't promise that I won't be unhelpful and stubborn." he said thinking of his own training with Master Yoda. Luke stopped once he was in front of her.

"I need to learn." Rey said with confidence, "I'm ready to be your student."

Luke nodded and walked past her towards the stairs, "Good. Now let's go say hello to our guests."


End file.
